1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an endoscope apparatus that enables minute images with different enlargement magnifications to be simultaneously displayed.
2. Description of the Related Art
An endoscope is used for identifying an internal lesion in a body. Especially for identifying a lesion such as a malignant tumor, it is required to use enlargement to observe the form of blood vessels near the surface of an organ. For such a requirement, an endoscope for magnifying an observation and an endoscope that can operate in either normal observation mode or magnified observation mode are proposed.
Using the endoscope for magnified observation prohibits an entire observation area from being observed because an enlarged image is constantly displayed. Accordingly, it is difficult to determine which section of an area is displayed with the enlargement of an entire area that is desired for observation.
In addition, even when using an endoscope that can be changed to either normal observation mode or magnified observation mode, when the distal end of an insertion tube shifts during observation with enlargement; it is difficult to determine which particular area is displayed with enlargement of the entire area.
Japanese Patent No. 3943927 discloses the single fiber endoscope that can provide an image with enlargement. However, as described above, it is difficult to determine which particular area is displayed with enlargement of the entire area.